• Entire villages washed away
• 2.4 million people severely affected
• Farmers', fisher folks' and labourers' livelihoods under threat

Cyclone Nargis struck southern Myanmar (Burma) in the early hours of 3 May, sweeping through the Irrawaddy delta region and the country’s largest city, Yangon, causing widespread destruction.

In pictures: Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone

Oxfam has provided emergency support through our partners within Myanmar to more than 250,000 people so far. Our work has included a mixture of food security, water and sanitation, and emergency shelter provision. We are now starting the next phase of our work: helping people to recover their livelihoods.

Oxfam in action: Building a better future

Learn more

• Situation overview
• Oxfam's response

An unimaginable situation

Cyclone Nargis cut a huge swath of devastation about 50 miles wide across 200 miles in Myanmar's southern delta region, destroying homes, crops, and property. Tens of thousands of women, men and children have died.

Most of the homes in the affected area were built from traditional materials - thatch, bamboo and timber. Much of this was destroyed. A recent survey found that almost eight in ten people said they still needed help with housing.

Clean water and safe sanitation are also needed urgently since many ponds and sewerage systems were (and many still are) inundated with seawater.

Now is a crucial time in the Myanmar's agricultural calendar. It is currently the rice planting season in the delta, which is often referred to as the country's 'rice bowl.' If this crucial planting season is missed there is a possibility of food shortages for farming families in the near future.

It has become very difficult for landless labourers to find work at the moment. They rely on being employed during the planting season to earn enough money to see them through the 'lean season' when there is little or no work until the harvesting season in November.

Learn more

• Oxfam's response

Oxfam's response

Oxfam is making steady progress responding to the huge needs in the Myanmar delta. We are working with a range of partners that know the area very well. This means our response is highly targeted, and reaching some of the most vulnerable people including women, children and people living with HIV and AIDS.

We have provided one-off and longer-term emergency assistance to over 250,000 people in Myanmar. This has included a mixture of food security, water and sanitation, and emergency shelter provision. For example, we have already supported thousands of households to be able to access clean water in the short term with Water Baskets.

Healthy homes

Shelter and public health are urgent priorities in the affected region. We are continuing to support people who have been made homeless by rebuilding homes, using local materials such as thatch, bamboo, and timber wherever possible. Oxfam has also supported partners to provide emergency supplies such as blankets, mosquito nets, candles, cooking pots and utensils, clothing, and water cans.

Oxfam in action: Building a better future

Developing ways to collect water, such as rainwater harvesting and cleaning ponds and wells, or digging new wells are urgently needed; as are ways to store the water that is collected. Much of the water collected and stored may not be safe to drink, to cook or wash with, so we are providing chlorination treatment to make it safe.

As well as making sure clean water is available, we are helping people to live in sanitary conditions by providing latrines and family hygiene kits. And we are making sure people know how to use the new water and sanitation systems by promoting good health and hygiene at a village level.

Food security and livelihoods

There is an immediate need for farmers to be able to sow rice in the current planting season, which ends in mid-August.

We are supporting a range of organisations to provide 'recovery packages' to farmers. These are tailored to meet the differing needs of farmers, but often include some or all of the following: rice seed, fertiliser, hand tillers and diesel (a great many of the animals used on farms for draught power have been killed, injured or made sick by the cyclone), and support to employ local labourers.

Oxfam in action: Rebuilding livelihoods

Supporting rice cultivation is our main focus at the moment, but we will soon be supporting other livelihoods. We will be supplying fisher folk with new nets and crab cages to replace those that they have lost. We will also support the re-establishment of other small-scale income generation activities such as betel nut production, cycle rickshaw and snack making.

Restoring communities

Many people are returning from temporary camps that were set up in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, but many of their villages are still damaged and people will need help to restore them. We are looking into how we can best do this.

In the very near future we will be supporting the rebuilding of schools and pre-school buildings, and equipping them with desks, chairs, books, etc.

But we know that communities are more than physical structures: they include the social factors and arrangements that keep families and villages together. So we will also be supporting the rebuilding of community-driven activities such as village groups that can work with us to ensure that our support is targeted to where it is most needed.

We will also be supporting the training of local people to be able to support the children who have been psychologically traumatised by Cyclone Nargis.

Update: 24 July 2008

Working with partners

Oxfam is working with Merlin to provide support to those affected by Cyclone Nargis.

Merlin has been working in Myanmar since 2004. A team of national staff in Laputta Township in the heart of the Irrawaddy Delta is saving lives, delivering health care and clean water. Over 260 trained medical providers are running mobile clinics, moving by boat to reach outlying villages. Other teams are providing clean water, latrines, shelter, seeds and non-food items, helping to improve people's lives in the long-term.

Merlin has a strong commitment to active collaboration. From the early stages of our response to Cyclone Nargis, we have been working in partnership with MercyCorps and Oxfam to help us provide a more comprehensive programme to better serve the needs of those affected. These organisations seconded staff who had significant expertise in water and sanitation, as well as food and agriculture.

You can help

Donate now to Oxfam's Mynamar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal